<aside> <img src="/icons/info-alternate_yellow.svg" alt="/icons/info-alternate_yellow.svg" width="40px" /> This page is part of The Toolbox by Danny Smith.

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In remote organisations, we not only need to work asynchronously (see Asynchronous Working), but also teach and learn asynchronously. To do this well, we first need to understand a little bit about how learning works.

Any document on How Learning Works could easily run to a thousand pages: learning is clearly a very complex topic! So while we barely scratch the surface here, I can provide a few principles by way of an introduction. Let's start with a definition of learning...

A process that leads to change, which occurs as a result of experience **and increases the potential for improved performance and future learning.

There are three critical components to this definition:

1. Learning is a process, not a product. But because this process takes place in the mind, we can only infer that it has occurred from learners' products or performances.
2. Learning involves change **in knowledge, beliefs, behaviours, or attitudes. This change unfolds over time: it is not fleeting but rather has a lasting impact on how students think and act.
3. Learning is not something done to **students, but something students themselves do. It is the direct result of how students interpret and respond to their experiences—conscious and unconscious, past and present.

Now let's look at some principles we can use to help us create useful learning experiences...

First and foremost, good learning experiences are always centered on the learner. If you've ever sat through a boring lecture or clicked through a series of endless e-learning slides, you've likely experienced learning that is instructor-centered. Much like good user interfaces require designers to focus on the user-experience by putting the users needs first, good learning requires learning designers to focus on the learner-experience by putting their needs first.

It's also worth remembering that people all learn differently, so we can't expect everything we design to work perfectly for everyone all the time.

The Learning Environment 🏠